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A letter from May 1986

Sore feet, fallen arches, and money worries

3 min

Agnes's big toe has been hurting for weeks and the doctor says her arches have fallen, so she needs real supports and good shoes. She worries about money, saying the monthly amount she gets is shrinking, and admits she broke down in tears.

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What Agnes says

Words in light grey italics were hard to hear, so they may not be exact.

And so he said to him, it's over with them. He said, well, I'm here to eat with you and stuff. Oh, so anyhow. how I was so tired, I thought I'll never make it to my room, but I did, and I lay down, and I slept the day down for a long time.

And then, then I, the nurse says, we've got a place for you to go to see the doctor, and the doctor told me that, that's why my toe is so big and, you know, And I had problems with this for about three, four weeks, you know.

And so I said, I don't want to go and have my toes taken off like little jam. So I said, you'll do something for me. He says, well, I will. And so he put on my leg and everything.

And he says, my arches are fallen. And that's why I got the trouble with my big toe and everything. So I had to go and have good shoes with the arts and everything. Well, I don't know if I told you, I don't think I did.

Johnny, I bring me a beautiful flower, you know, something like you, I had from you, you know, a nice flower, all winning and everything. and he pushed out $20 to $20 for me you know I told him I said I lent him an awful lot in the length of time I had with my husband at home because I never had a chance to go and spend it because the women folks were with him all the time and drinking day and night and I had to go home and milk cows and everything So that's why I let Johnny have quite a bit of money.

So I said to him, you know, I said to him, I am kind of getting less and less ago. They are giving us lots less money than they did before. The $40 are not so much no more. It's only $30.

I think that the ladies are whatever.

So I get a little less money and stuff. And so that's why we had a new administrator, you know. You shook hands with him before you went, remember? The tall, nice guy. So I come home to my room and I finally broke down and I had a few little tears.

I didn't know what the heck to do. I wasn't coming for a few days.